Donegal News

The dust is only settling this week on the avalanche of plaudits for Neill McGee following his inter-county retirement. But it's perhaps fitting that Jim ...

He loved the battle and loved the celebration, in equal measure. I told him that he was the best full back in the country but no one else knows that just yet. He was sheet iron and he was as quick as lightening. So they are later to the table in that sense. Maybe some lads don’t want to be seen to be going straight into the system at that level, that some might think that there is this sort of sense of entitlement if they move right away. To be on the line watching that, it was a privileged place to be as a manager. He seemed to just rise above all that pressure and looked to drive it back our direction. The focus, the dedication and the single mindedness it took to get to the level he eventually got to – which was the best full back in the country; it was powerful stuff. And he was always there, he always trained. But the one that stands out for me more than anything was when we played away to Meath in the NFL back in 2011. Going back to 2011again and taking the job, there was also this thing in my mind that Neil needed to be shaped. And that was potent in a group sense.